Saber Squadron
by muahahahaboo
Summary: Rakken has a bright future flying F-302's. However when Anubis attacks Earth Season 7 , Rakken's piloting skills are put to the test. Follows all screened battles and some in-between skirmishes.
1. Author's Note and Prologue

Author's note: I've been watching Stargate Episodes online since 2008 and when I saw the Battle of Antarctica, I was determined to write this story. Nobody ever wrote about the battles of the F-302s nor was there any real focus on non-main characters. So what I thought I would do is write this story about an F-302 fighter pilot, taking place in all major campaigns, starting from the Battle of Antarctica and building up from the timeline there. So... Enjoy!

PROLOGUE

Rakken was enjoying his meal, in a gourmet restaurant with his wife and two daughters.

"I'd have a… one of those soup things… whadya call it?"

The waiter only looked at him, confused.

"The ones with the shark fins stuff in them?"

"Shark fin soup?"  
"Uhh… yeah," he said. Quickly he added in a, "I knew that."

As the waiter walked away he turned to his wife. She spoke.

"Today's gonna be a wonderful evening." Rakken smiled.

"Yes, it will," Rakken assured her.

They each put their hands on the table and tightly held them. All of a sudden his cell phone rang. He withdrew his hand and pulled his phone out. With obvious annoyance, he put the phone to his ear.

"Lieutenant Vatz?"

The sound of his commanding officer's voice, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, put him on alert.

"Sir?"

"Confirm Echo Alpha Romeo Tango Hotel Foothold."

"Copy Echo Alpha Romeo Tango Hotel Foothold."

"Report to Sierra Golf Charlie for debriefing. ASAP."

"Yes, sir."

Damn it. Today was their fifth anniversary… and he would have to cancel his vacation.

"Listen, I have to go, I'm sorry," he said to his family. She gave him a look that would stop an F-22 in its tracks.

He hastily walked out of the restaurant, eyes wide.


	2. Battle of Antarctica Part 1

**Battle of Antarctica Part 1**

First Lieutenant Rakken Vatz had been flying F-302's since 2003 and F-15's even longer. He had flown F-15's and F-22's in the Cold War and Iraq. Though his rank was low for someone with his number of years of service, he wasn't exactly a star player. He had been promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st then to a Captain and a Major, then slowly over time, his mistakes had brought him back down to a First Lieutenant.

During his hour-long debriefing at Stargate Command, he had learned about their current position. His experience was needed. Anubis was going to attack Earth.

***

"Mitchell, I want all 302's in the bay manned before we lift off," General Hammond ordered.

"Yes, sir." He turned to me and told me to relay the message. "Lieutenant Vatz, pass on the message."

"Sir." I left the bridge of the BC-303 Prometheus and jogged to the F-302 bay. "General wants those 302's manned. Let's move it people!"

Though some outranked me, I was still the senior and most experienced of all the pilots. As long as Mitchell wasn't around though, this breach of chain of command wouldn't leave this bay.

I manned my own craft and I locked in my harnesses. I ran a quick diagnostic of the system. Everything was in the green.

All of a sudden I felt a sense of vertigo. The BC-303 was taking off.

"All right people, this is Mitchell. SG-1 reports that the Lost City is in Antarctica. We are to cover SG-1 until they can get inside the ice."

"Roger." Fifteen minutes later, Mitchell gave the order.

"All right Sabers, go, go, go!"

His STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) F-302's sub light engines took it out of the bay. All he could see was a clear sky and ice. Directly in front of him was a Tel'Tak Goa'uld Class Ship.

"That's SG-1, ladies and gentlemen. Now if you'll kindly look past them, you can see the enemy kindly waving to us. Let's give them a warm welcome to Saber airlines. As you can see your carryon should be placed in the cabinet above you." Some laughed at the Colonel's joke.

"All right, let's kick the tires and light the fires baby!"

"Amen brother," I said.

"Amen to that, man."

The enemy squadron was closing in and from his cockpit he could see the enemy craft slowly become larger in his view. The squadron was made of mainly Death Glider fighters and over four Al'Kesh bombers. There were likely over 30 Death Gliders although Rakken had lost count after ten.

His squadron has thirteen fighters. Thirteen against a minimum of 34… Still, they had to try.

A voice cracked over the COM. "Okay guys, looks like we'll have to blow through. Enemy 500 feet and closing. Blow through, blow through!"

The two fleets looked as though they were playing a game of chicken together. At the last moment both sides fired with SG-1's Tel'Tak right in the smack dab middle, albeit slightly lower.

Across the radio, there was chatter from nearly all thirteen 302's.

"Fox three." That was an AIM-120 AMRAAM.

"Fox two." That was an infrared guided missile.

"Firing missiles."

Missile contrail was everywhere. One 302 was down from the enemy's energy weapons.

The heat seeking missiles however, had damaged all four Al'Kesh and had taken out six of the Death Gliders.

As both sides passed through, they rounded back and it turned into an all out dogfight. The sky was a mess. He had to stay concentrated.

He began to stalk a Death Glider and soon he heard the continuous _beep_ sound of a missile locked on. He fired it and he saw the missile from his cockpit. It left a trail of white smoke as the missile banked abruptly to track the alien vessel. He scored a hit and watched as a streak of fire burned to the ground.


	3. Battle of Antarctica Part 2

**Battle of Antarctica Part 2**

"Saber Six, do you copy?" crackled a voice over my radio.

Immediately I spoke. "Yes sir."

"Those Al'Kesh are getting close to SG-1. Hold 'em off till the Prometheus gets here. Sabers Two and Three keep them off our six."

Two acknowledgements came over the radio.

As I made my attack run, I calmly said, "Fox three."

The AMRAAM missile streaked to the Al'Kesh and detonated on its shield. The explosion threw shrapnel back at my ship and clipped a piece of my wing. However, I was still in the fight.

I put myself on the COM. "It's no use guys, use any extra fuel tanks and drop it on them bombers."

My co-pilot sitting in back of me knew what to do. He opened the payload doors on the bottom of the F-302 and looking at his screen. As I flew over the Al'Kesh the fuel tank dropped… and hit. We saw the bomber's shields fail.

"Fox three," Saber One (Mitchell) said. "Enemy bomber is destroyed."

"Still got three more," I said to Mitchell. The Al'Kesh were closing in.

"Anybody got fuel tanks?" the Colonel shouted.

In the midst of all the chatter, we distinctly heard someone say, "I got 'em!"

And there he was. An F-302 flying towards a second bomber… with two Death Gliders right on it's tail.

"Saber Eight, you have two bogies on your tail. Pull up, we're moving to intercept. Saber Two out."

Saber Two and Three, who were originally tracking the Colonels and my flight, broke off our Four Finger formation.

The two Death Gliders set their priority on the two interceptors. Saber Eight dropped his fuel tank and made a huge explosion. Once again the shields disappeared and we were free to wreck the ship. That left two.

I looked around and spoke. "Alright, alright, what do we do now?"

"Rakken, rejoin the main fight. Sabers Two, Three, Four and Eight assume Four Finger formation and take out those bombers with everything you got."

There was only a dozen or so Death Gliders left, yet we only had four more 302's keeping them busy.

I joined in to help. I had two AMRAAM missiles left. Saber Thirteen was trying to shake a Death Glider, to no appeal. The others were busy trying to buy time. I used an AIM-120 missile on it and had effectively taken it out of the fight.

Saber Thirteen reported in. "Thanks, man. That Glider had me there."

I didn't reply because at that moment, two Death Gliders were bearing down on my position. One was from my right flank and one was at 10 'o clock.

The one on my right flank fired. I didn't know whether it had hit me until I felt a nasty bump and a piece of my wing fell off.

I banked my craft hard to face the one that was previously on my 3 'o clock and engaged him. I shot a missile point blank. It wouldn't miss.

I was rewarded with a burning casket. All of a sudden my craft began to stall. I pulled up on the stick. With a half destroyed wing I would barely be able to fly.

The warning sounded. "Pull up. Pull up. Pull up." The ground grew bigger and bigger. My altitude meter showed 500 feet… 400 feet… 300… 200… 100… At the last moment my craft recovered at 50 feet. I could hear my co-pilot curse.

All of a sudden, on the radio, I heard the Colonel's voice. "This is Saber One, I am going down. I repeat, I am going down. Be advised final enemy Al'Kesh is undamaged and we have spent all ordnance. Ejecting now."

I could see two damaged fighters veering towards the ground and finally crash. The other three turned back to help us. That was it. All fighters had spent their missiles. All we had was our two nose-mounted rail guns.

"Prometheus, this is First Lieutenant Rakken, we have spent all ordnance and there is still an Al'Kesh. Better hurry up here."

"This is the Prometheus. We copy."

As promised the BC-303 nearly filled my front view. A dozen of its 24 rail guns opened up on the Al'Kesh. Within seconds, its shields had failed and the bomber was ripped apart. Immediately Ha'Tak motherships started bombing the place where SG-1's Tel'Tak was located. Had not the Prometheus been there to take those hits, SG-1 would have died, as the ice would have collapsed. For now, it seemed, Prometheus was able to take it.

The Glider that had previously been on my 10 'o clock was now directly in front of me, engaging another fighter. This time, with no missiles to spare, I fired upon it with my cannons.

I could see the sparks on the Glider's wings and the smoke coming out. Eventually I brought it down. The Prometheus focused on the few Death Gliders left. I saw three missiles from the Prometheus put down all three Death Gliders simultaneously.

"This is the Prometheus, do not return to our ship. Our shields are down. Plotting collision course for Anubis's mothership."

True enough, explosions occurred every time it was fired upon.

"All right people. Lets go find those survivors." I activated my FoF tag and found that most of the downed ships had survivors, including the Colonel.

I exhaled and looked at my wing, a mark of how close I was to death.


End file.
